Days after blazing a trail of death and destruction across the Philippines, Typhoon Conson has come ashore with high winds and heavy rain in China’s Hainan province.
The storm struck during early evening Friday in the city of Sanya with winds in excess of 120 kilometers per hour, officials said. Conson overturned 10 fishing vessels in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands before reaching Hainan, said the official Xinhua news agency.
Heavy rains from the typhoon would worsen the misery in several Chinese provinces where severe flooding has already killed 135 people and destroyed more than 100,000 homes, officials warned.
The storm is forecast to move next across the Gulf of Tonkin and strike Vietnam late Saturday southwest of Hanoi.
Earlier this week, the storm lashed the Philippines and left 38 people dead and 47 still missing. Electricity has been restored in much of the capital, Manila, and operations at the city’s international airport have returned to normal.
(Thanks to Voice of America and NASA)